BLINN WINS TWO AT THE NEW MEXICO TOURNAMENT

The 14th-ranked Blinn College volleyball team opened the New Mexico Junior College Classic with a pair of victories, including an incredible-come-from-behind upset, Friday at New Mexico Junior College in Lea County, N.M.

The Buccaneers improved to 15-3 overall after defeating Midland College in four sets and rallying out of a two-set deficit to knock off No. 8 Odessa College in five.

Blinn's victory over Odessa avenged a tough five-set loss to the Wranglers at the Kruse Kickoff Classic on Sept. 3 in Brenham, Texas.

"The girls played really hard today, and I thought our serve receive and defense was really good," Buccaneers head coach Terry Gamble said. "Odessa is a really good, well-coached team, and beating them today hopefully shows us that we can be really good. I'm really proud of the girls and how hard they worked."

Blinn opened the tournament with a 25-19, 25-18, 18-25, 25-21 victory over Midland.

Sophomore Kierslynn Wright totaled a team-best 15 kills (32 between both matches) to move into first place on the NJCAA Division I leaderboard with 234 this season. Navarro College's Hanna Tylska is second with 217.

Freshmen LaNeah Lara, Pollyanna Hernandez, and Taylor Glendening added nine, seven, and six kills, respectively.

Freshman setters Darby Nash and Kelsi Wingo handed out 23 and 15 set assists apiece.

At the service line, sophomore libero Ellie Turner tallied four aces.

Turner was also a force on defense with 31 digs, freshman Emily Hardee added 15, and Nash totaled 12.

Blinn displayed its resiliency in its second match of the day, rallying out of a two-set hole to defeat Odessa 23-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-9.

Wright had 17 kills and Lara added 15. Glendening posted nine. Nash and Wingo had 21 and 17 assists, respectively.

Turner recorded 36 digs, Wright notched 20, and Nash had 14.

The Buccaneers continue tournament play on Saturday with matchups against Hill College (1 p.m.) and New Mexico Junior College (5 p.m.).

Story by Joe Alberico, Blinn College Sports Information Specialist